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That sucks. Me thinks the service person failed to use a "SEAL" installer? Just a guess but generally many DIY and mechanics use the tap it with a rubber mallet. or use a piece of wood or just smack it in with a hammer. Sad but I have caught my people doing that...but they only do it once.
Believe it or not there is an inexpensive seal installer set that prevents damage when installing most engine and transmission seals.
Good luck with the second time around with the seal.
Funny – I actually just heard back from them about this, and from what they said, this might be exactly what happened.
Should be getting it back next week. Fingers crossed!
Funny – I actually just heard back from them about this, and from what they said, this might be exactly what happened.
Should be getting it back next week. Fingers crossed!
Yup someone got an ear full I am sure. I think you will get the RED Carpet treatment when you pick up your Mazda.
speaking of ear full... it seems mine is missing. I was going to take a picture of what a seal installer set looks like and apparently it was borrowed and not returned?
Nice quality-of-life upgrade: custom leather wrapped steering wheel by my buddy! (IG: @chesis300)
Could have had any of a wide variety of materials and colors. Would have loved Alcantara with thumb grips, but wanted something simple, anti-pretentious, and easy to clean. Even opted for black stitching to keep it as low-key as possible.
Amazing what a difference a good-feeling steering wheel makes. It's a small thing but you feel it literally 100% of the time you're driving the car. Low effort, low expense, high impact. Strongly recommended.
Nice quality-of-life upgrade: custom leather wrapped steering wheel by my buddy (IG: @chesis300)!
Could have had any of a wide variety of materials and colors. Would have loved Alcantara with thumb grips, but wanted something simple, anti-pretentious, and easy to clean. Even opted for black stitching to keep it low-key.
Amazing what a difference a good-feeling steering wheel makes. It's a small thing but you feel it literally 100% of the time you're driving the car. Low effort, low expense, high impact. Strongly recommended.
I agree 100%. That is the first thing I seem to always do when i get a new vehicle added to the homestead.
Forgot to post this when it happened. One of the rear ARB end links I installed just last year – the driver's side one – started making noise over the summer. Video attached.
I expected more from TRW!
Replaced it and all is well. Glad it's such an easy job.
Noticed different markings on the old one (the one that went bad in less than a year) and the new one.
Will have to do this every year, apparently. Not psyched about that. But it seems necessary. As I'm sure a lot of us know, the rustproofing on these vehicles is.... not great. This one lived its whole life in central TX before we bought it, and it still has about the same amount of rust as our 4-years-older, year-round-daily-driver-in-PA BMW has (roughly the same odometer reading).
The only decent-quality replacement I could easily get my hands on was a KYB – which doesn't have the locating pin, so can be used on either side. An Autozone near me had one, so I could get it same-day. So, now I have one Sachs and one KYB strut mount. #ShrugLife
"Decent...."
Just over a year and ~20k miles. This was just a few days after we started hearing a noise; a few more at this rate and we might have put a strut through the hood. I am not happy.
FWIW, the Sachs mount on the driver's side seems to be fine so far. Fingers crossed...
This KYB one at least has a "lifetime limited warranty" from Autozone. But apparently the "warranty" is only good for one replacement, which kind of exposes it as a "we know this stuff is junk and are hoping only a certain percentage come back" kind of program.
I mentioned earlier that I had been having second thoughts about my brief foray back into potentially-less-than-OE-quality aftermarket parts. Now it's full-blown regret.
Never again – at least, barring a VERY compelling reason.
Follow-up: Bumps are audibly noisier on the passenger's side (KYB strut mount) than on the driver's side (Sachs strut mount), and the passenger's side sometimes makes a slight groaning noise when steering.
05-05-2023, 02:01 PM
Just a guess but generally many DIY and mechanics use the tap it with a rubber mallet. or use a piece of wood or just smack it in with a hammer. Sad but I have caught my people doing that...but they only do it once. 
I was going to take a picture of what a seal installer set looks like and apparently it was borrowed and not returned? 
